1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention relate to the recliner function of a vehicle seat and in particular to the recliner return walk in mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Seats of a vehicle such as an automobile may be provided with a reclining mechanism that allows the seat back to pivot at a base portion thereof. One type of reclining mechanism allows the seat back to pivot to a forward position to allow the ingress and egress of passengers behind the seat. This reclining mechanism has several defined positions including: a neutral position, an upright position, a rear most position, and a front most position; where the ingress/egress of passengers behind occurs at the front most position
However, these reclining mechanisms have several inadequacies which make their use less than ideal. One such problem is that if the seat back is rearward of neutral, then the release leaver to allow the seat back to pivot must be held in a release position until the seat back passes the neutral position. If the operator were to release the lever prior to passing the neutral position, then the seat back would lock in place.
Furthermore, if the seat back is in between the upright position and the neutral position when the lever is actuated, the seat back recliner will not lock if the seat back is not returned to the neutral position. Moreover, the seat back will return to a position more rearward than the original position between the neutral position and the upright position.